to mil or not to mil that is the question

[reyes1]

So i was talking with one of the machinists at my work today and he said he could mil my head for no charge. My question is whether or not this is better than thining the head gasket, and also will this affect my squish band? let me know what you guys think. and also i want to do some trail porting later on down the line; will this affect my ability to do that?

 

[Agpetro]

Milling the head and taking a gasket off will affect your squish band. I had my viper head milled by bender racing last fall. It was a must with my triple pipes to even out the compression. If your going to mill your head make sure you do it RIGHT!! 60 miles after i put my milled head on from bender I ate up a piston and cylinder going down the trail at 35mph. So I toke it back home on a trailer to see what the hell happened. Checked the compression from the pto side and I had 125,85,175. So I took my head off and looked at it and the milling was all messed up. Only one out of the three domes were cut right. After talking to Bender the compression was to be 125psi across all three. So i sent in the head, piston, and cylinder so their tech could look at it. A few weeks later I got a call from them that I was 100% right they cut my head wrong and that they were going to make it right with me and send me the parts I needed to replace. After I rebuilt the engine the compression was all the same at 125psi. I got about 350 miles on the rebuilt with know problems this winter. I give them credit for making it right with me.

I am tell you about this reyes1, because I don't want you to have the same thing happen to your sled if the milling isn't done right.

 

[ottawaair]

The SRX does not have the same issues as the viper. The SXR domes are all the same to start with, so flat cutting or milling is an option. You will want to check your squish clearance before you do anything, so you know how much you can safely remove. Do some searching on here as it's been discussed many times.